Comme des Garçcon Layered Organza Jacket

The detail that decides this garment is that every layer fastens separately. It would have been simple to build three thicknesses into one jacket with one row of buttons down the front, and it would have produced a heavier version of an ordinary thing. Instead there are three closures, which means the layers are independent: they can be worn all closed, all open, or in any combination, and the jacket you are looking at changes with each one. What makes that legible rather than merely fussy is that the cloth is sheer. Organza takes its crispness from tightly twisted continuous filament yarn rather than from any finish applied afterward, which is why it stands away from the body and holds an edge instead of falling softly, and nylon is a continuous filament by nature, so the cloth has body without weight. Sheer over sheer over sheer, all in white, and what registers is not three garments but three densities of the same white. Where the layers separate you see through to the shirt or the skin underneath; where they stack, the white goes solid. The whole tonal range of the jacket is made from one color and an accident of how many layers happen to be lying on top of each other at that point.

A white jacket that is genuinely three garments is an unusual amount of use out of one purchase, and the buttons on every layer are what make that a real offer rather than a description.

Layering as a construction problem rather than as a styling suggestion is a main-line preoccupation, and this jacket answers it three times over, once for each separately fastening layer.

One hundred percent nylon. Made in Japan. Triple-layered, long-sleeved, with a button closure on each layer. Color: white.

Three layers add depth at the shoulder and the sleeve even though the cloth itself is weightless, so this sits away from the body rather than against it and should be sized for what goes underneath. Organza holds its shape and does not collapse, which means the jacket keeps a silhouette when it is open as well as when it is closed.

Over the Pleated Column Dress, sheer white over a black column, which is the version we would argue for. Over the Ruffle Chest Tank. Over the Wide Crop Trouser and the Single Breasted Blazer for a tonal, near-white outfit.

A sheer nylon has almost no tolerance for heat and a great deal of tolerance for water. Wash cool and gently, or have it cleaned, hang it to dry, and do not iron it, because a hot plate will glaze or melt a filament cloth on contact. Steam from a distance if it needs reviving. Our care guidance covers the rest.

The Layered Organdy Jacket is a structured single-breasted jacket in black and white, cut with an interlining rather than in separate buttoning layers. There is more on the house on the Comme des Garçons designer page. Everything we carry from Comme des Garçons is listed together.